Ali G Stooge Claims He Was In On The Joke All Along 2026

Joshua Loudermilk, one of the men apparently duped in the new Ali G movie Ali G: Who Iz I?, now says he was in on the joke from the start. The 54-year-old aspiring actor from North Carolina told the Guardian he recognized Sacha Baron Cohen early in the shoot but kept pretending to be a hard-right MAGA sympathizer.

His claim adds a new twist to a film that already has one participant threatening to sue. The other recruit, Michael Aboud, chair of the El Paso County Republican Party, has called Cohen a "liar" and a "pervert" and said he intends to take legal action.

The discrepancy matters because the movie's humor depends on whether its subjects are truly unaware. If Loudermilk was playing along, the line between prank and performance gets blurry.

What Happened in the Ali G Movie?

Ali G: Who Iz I? brings back Sacha Baron Cohen's early character Ali G, but the central prank involves another Cohen persona: Col. Erran Morad, a former Mossad "terrorism expert." Morad recruits Loudermilk and Aboud to form a citizens' warrior force to protect US borders.

The weapon at the center of the bit is a gun disguised as buttocks. Morad presents it as a top-secret new tool, and the recruits go along with the absurd premise. The film then follows them on a mission to stop a fictional South American drug kingpin's baby from being born on US soil.

That mission involves abducting a woman apparently in labor, abandoning her in a deserted medical facility, and kidnapping her newborn child—actually a lifelike prosthetic. The men then drive the "baby" in a zipped bag to the border to deliver it by drone to Mexico.

Aboud is shown deciding to drop the child from a great height into Mexico rather than let it touch US soil. The film repeatedly stresses that both men were "not in on the joke," a claim Loudermilk now disputes.

Why Loudermilk Says He Played Along

Loudermilk told the Guardian he recognized Baron Cohen early in the shoot. Instead of blowing the whistle, he decided to keep acting the part. "He's not going to punk me. I'll trick him," Loudermilk said, according to the Guardian.

That decision meant the filmmakers didn't realize he knew. Loudermilk claims he was in on the joke but that the production was unaware of his awareness. The result is a meta-layer: a man pretending to be fooled while the film presents him as genuinely fooled.

Loudermilk is an aspiring actor, which adds context to his claim. He may have seen the shoot as an opportunity to perform rather than a pure con. But his assertion also raises questions about consent and how reality is framed in Cohen's work.

The Fallout: Aboud's Threat to Sue

Michael Aboud's reaction has been far less playful. He has publicly called Cohen a "liar" and a "pervert" and expressed his intention to sue. His anger centers on being portrayed as someone who would drop a baby from a great height, even a prosthetic one.

The film's disclaimer that both men were "not in on the joke" is meant to protect the production legally and comedically. But if Loudermilk's account is true, that disclaimer is at least partially inaccurate for him.

Aboud's legal threat could test how far prank films can go in depicting real people. The movie's premise involves kidnapping and child endangerment, even if staged, which makes the stakes higher than a typical hidden-camera gag.

How This Fits Sacha Baron Cohen's Style

Cohen has built a career on blurring the line between reality and performance. From Ali G to Borat to Bruno, his characters lure real people into scenarios that expose their beliefs or biases. The comedy often relies on the subjects not knowing they're in a setup.

When a subject claims they were in on it, the dynamic shifts. It can undermine the intended satire or add a layer of irony. In Loudermilk's case, his claim might be true, or it might be a way to save face after looking foolish on camera.

Either way, the controversy generates publicity for the film. The question is whether audiences will see Loudermilk as a clever participant or as someone retroactively spinning the story.

What to Watch Next

Aboud's threatened lawsuit is the most concrete next step. If he files, the discovery process could reveal what the filmmakers knew about Loudermilk's awareness. That could affect how the film is marketed and whether the "not in on the joke" disclaimer holds up.

Loudermilk's claim also invites scrutiny of the production's methods. Did the filmmakers check whether participants suspected the prank? Did they care? These are ethical questions that often follow Cohen's projects. The background to this story is set out in Celebrity: latest articles.

For now, the film stands as released, with its own version of events. Loudermilk's interview adds a competing narrative that viewers will have to weigh. A related thread runs through Newcastle's Second-Half Surge Piles Pressure on Lacklustre Crystal.

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